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The Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism
Newsletter
Volume 2 No. 43
22 February 2008

YIISA SEMINAR
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28 @ 4:15 PM
Institution for Social and Policy Studies (ISPS), Room A-002 (77 Prospect St)
“Leo Strauss as a Jewish Thinker”
Speakers:       Professor Steven Smith
Alfred Cowles Professor of Government
Yale University
 
YIISA SPECIAL EVENT
MONDAY, MARCH 3 @ 4:00 PM
The MacMillan Center, Luce Auditorium (34 Hillhouse Ave)
Why It Is Difficult to Research Antisemitism
Speaker:         Michel Wieviorka
                        Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris
                        Centre for Sociological Analysis and Intervention (CADIS)
                        President of the International Sociological Association
 
SPECIAL OPPORTUNITY AT YIISA  
Post-Doctorate Research Fellowship, Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism (YIISA), Yale University
Applicants are invited for a Research Fellowship tenable for one year, renewable for one further academic year, commencing in September 2008. Applications are welcome from candidates from various academic disciplines, with a strong background in the study of antisemitism and related fields. YIISA is dedicated to the scholarly research of the origins and manifestations associated with antisemitism globally, as well as other forms of prejudice, as it relates to policy.
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YIISA IN THE NEWS
 
Antisemitism without Jews: Yale Initiative on Antisemitism to explore Africa
(Jewish Ledger) With the post-9/11 spread of radical Islam throughout the world, Africa is among the areas experiencing rapid transformation. The extremist movement brings with it anti-Western and anti-Israel rhetoric, and the occasional physical attack on Western organizations. Later this month, the Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism (YIISA) will bring together three noted scholars on Africa to explore antisemitism on the continent.
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Three African speakers featured at symposium
(Jewish Ledger) As part of its regular seminar series, “Antisemitism in Comparative Perspective,” YIISA will host three leading African scholars on Thursday, Feb. 21. “Africa and Contemporary Antisemitism” will feature Prof. Shalem Coulibaly, Dr. Hubert Ngatcha Njila, and Prof. Olufemi Vaughan. After the symposium, attendees are invited to a performance by the African-Israeli band, “Cornerstone.”
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VIDEOS
 
Iranian exile group says Teheran steps up its nuclear arms program
(Haaretz) In this edition: An Iranian opposition group says Teheran has stepped up its nuclear weapons program. Chelsea's Israeli soccer coach is sent an anti-Semitic death threat. And, an underworld figure's son turns himself in to police after months in hiding.
Click here to watch
 
REPORTS
 
‘The Israel Lobby’ and the American interest
(Middle East Strategy at Harvard) In the latest issue of The American Interest, March/April 2008, Itamar Rabinovich, the former Israeli ambassador to the United States, former president of Tel Aviv University, former head of the Dayan Center, current visiting professor of public policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School, and a member of the The American Interest editorial board, takes on the Mearsheimer/Walt phenomenon. That is to say, he is not reviewing the book so much as the various reviews of the book,
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Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi Barred from U.K.
(MEMRI) It was announced during the first week of February 2008 that foremost Sunni cleric Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi has been barred from the U.K. Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi, who is head of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, president of the International Association of Muslim Scholars (IAMS), and the spiritual guide of many other Islamist organizations across the world, including the Muslim Brotherhood, has already been barred from entering the U.S.
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ARTICLES OF INTEREST
 
IRAN
 
Iran Says God Protects Nuclear Program
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday that God would punish Iranians if they do not support the country's disputed nuclear program, state radio reported.
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Ahmadinejad, Israel and Mass Killings
I am worried. Last year I did some historical research on the shifts in discourse within British, Japanese, and South African official elites prior to their use of biological weapons. In all these cases, including the deliberate distribution of small pox-infected blankets by the British in North America, the use of bubonic plague by the Japanese in China, and the use of anthrax by the South Africans in what was then Rhodesia, use of biological agents was preceded by an escalation of rhetorical campaigns to demonize and dehumanize the targeted enemy.
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Iran Could Have Enough Uranium for a Bomb by Year’s End
New simulations carried out by European Union experts come to an alarming conclusion: Iran could have enough highly enriched uranium to build an atomic bomb by the end of this year.
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Ahmadinejad: Israel filthy bacteria
(Jerusalem Post) In yet another verbal attack against Israel, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called the Jewish state a "filthy bacteria" whose sole purpose was to oppress the other nations of the region. "The world powers established this filthy bacteria, the Zionist regime, which is lashing out at the nations in the region like a wild beast," the Iranian president told supporters at a rally in southern Iran.
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Ahmadinejad in new attack on 'savage animal' Israel
(AFP) President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Wednesday called Israel a "dirty microbe" and "savage animal", as Iran stepped up its rhetoric against the Jewish state after the murder of a top Hezbollah commander. "World powers have created a black and dirty microbe named the Zionist regime and have unleashed it like a savage animal on the nations of the region," Ahmadinejad told a rally in the southern city of Bandar Abbas broadcast on state television.
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Ahmadinejad: Zionist regime - a dirty microbe
(YNet) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is at it again: Speaking in the southern Iranian city of Bandar Abbas, Ahmadinejad launched yet another verbal attack on Israel, calling it "a dirty microbe," "a wild animal" and "the West's scarecrow".
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UN Chief: Ahmadinejad's verbal attacks on Israel intolerable
(Haaretz) UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon promised Wednesday to respond "firmly" to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's verbal attacks on Israel, which he called "intolerable." Ban made the promise in a meeting with Israel's Ambassador to the UN Dan Gillerman, who requested the meeting with the UN chief following the Iranian president's Wednesday attack calling Israel a "filthy germ."
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Ban: 'Teheran's comments are unforgivable'
(Jerusalem Post) Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Wednesday to express "outrage" over recent statements by Iranian officials calling for the destruction of Israel. Ban agreed to meet on very short notice and said such statements were "unacceptable and unforgivable," according to Gillerman, who also stressed the need for a "quick and strong" resolution to prevent Iran from pursuing its nuclear ambitions.
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Condoning Genocide
(Jerusalem Post) An opinion piece following the aftermath of Ahmadinejad’s most recent comments and other anti-Zionist comments from others. “The silence from the nations of the world in the face of this blatant endorsement of terror and incitement to genocide is deafening, giving the lie to oceans of pious rhetoric.”
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Iranian official: Countdown to Israel's destruction has begun
(Haaretz) Iranian Parliament Speaker Gholam Hadad has warned that the "countdown to Israel's destruction has begun," in an interview published Thursday in an Iranian newspaper. Hadad's comment was one of a number of scathing remarks made by Iranian officials regarding Israel this week, a trend apparently escalated by the assassination of Hezbollah's second-in-command Imad Mugniyah earlier this month.
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Iran guards predict Israel demise
(BBC) Iran's Revolutionary Guards leader has predicted the imminent destruction of Israel by fighters from the Lebanese movement Hezbollah. "We will soon witness the destruction of the cancerous scum of Israel at the strong, capable hands of Hezbollah," Maj-Gen Mohammad Jafari wrote.
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The Nexus Between Iranian National Banks and International Terrorist Financing
(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Iran has been using its state institutions as agents of the terror activity it perpetrates throughout the world. Iranian embassies, consulates, cultural centers, economic legations, and religious and charity institutions provide cover for Iran's terror activity and international subversion. The funding for this terror activity is partly provided via Bank Melli and sometimes also via Bank Saderat (the Export Bank of Iran).
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French Court Freezes $85M in Iranian Assets
(NY Sun) Acting on American court judgments meant to compensate victims of terrorism, a French court has frozen $85 million belonging to the Central Bank of Iran. The recent ruling is one of the first in which American victims of terrorism have been able to convince a foreign court to freeze Iranian assets. Freezing the funds is the first step in a long legal process that the American victims hope will result in them gaining control of the money.
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Iran tests advanced centrifuges with gas: diplomats
(Washington Post) Iran has introduced small amounts of uranium gas into advanced centrifuges it is testing at its main nuclear complex, diplomats said, in a further step towards gaining the means to develop atom bombs if it chooses. A European Union diplomat said the move was a "stunning rejection" of repeated U.N. Security Council demands that Iran suspend sensitive nuclear activity, and could hasten passage of broader sanctions drafted by six world powers.
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Iran opposition: Teheran making nukes
Teheran has accelerated its nuclear weapons program, including the production of atomic warheads, an exiled Iranian opposition group claimed in Belgium on Wednesday. "The Iran regime entered a new phase in its nuclear project," said Muhammad Mohaddessin, a representative of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, while speaking at a news conference in Brussels.
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Iranian opposition group: Tehran accelerated nuclear program
(Haaretz) An exiled Iranian opposition group on Wednesday claimed that Tehran has accelerated its alleged nuclear weapons program, including the production of nuclear warheads. The Iran regime entered a new phase in its nuclear project, said Mohammad Mohaddessin, a representative of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran.
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Russia warns Iran on missiles, uranium enrichment
(Reuters) Russia warned Iran on Wednesday that its development of rockets and continued uranium enrichment was creating the impression Tehran was intentionally ignoring the concerns of the international community. "We do not approve of Iran's actions in constantly demonstrating its intentions to develop its rocket sector and continue enriching uranium," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Russian news agencies.
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Gazprom signs oil, gas-production deal with Iran
(CNN) Russian state gas monopoly OAO Gazprom said Tuesday it had reached agreement to drill and produce oil and gas in Iran in a deal that highlights Moscow's deepening trade and commercial ties with Tehran.
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Mr. President, Don't Forget Iran
(Wall Street Journal) Dear Mr. President: A few months ago, it became possible to hear members and supporters of your administration going around Washington and saying that the question of a nuclear-armed Iran "would not be left to the next administration." As a line of the day, this had the advantage of sounding both determined and slightly mysterious, as if to commit both to everything and to nothing in particular.
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Attack Iran, With Words
(NY Times) For those who believe — as I do — that the clerics who rule Iran must never have an arsenal of nuclear weapons, the United States’ course of action ought to be clear: The Bush administration should advocate direct, unconditional talks between Washington and Tehran. Strategically, politically and morally, such meetings will help us think more clearly. Foreign-policy hawks ought to see such discussions as essential preparation for possible military strikes against clerical Iran’s nuclear facilities.
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Iran Supports Khartoum policies in Darfur
(Sudan Tribune) While Iran celebrates the 29th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution founded by Imam Ayatollah Ruhollah Mussawi Khomeini, the Iranian Shura Council Chairman Iranian parliament speaker Dr. Ghulam-Ali Haddad-Adel said that Iran’s position toward the issue of Darfur is to support the position of the government of Sudan (GOS), indicating that the Darfur crisis is a result of external interference in affairs of Sudan.
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Row over Ahmadinejad Imam beliefs
(BBC) Iran's former nuclear negotiator, a cleric, has said that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government is encouraging superstitious practices.
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MIDDLE EAST
 
Sanctions on Businessman Target Syria's Inner Sanctum
The Bush administration yesterday froze the U.S. assets and restricted the financial transactions of Syrian businessman Rami Makhluf, a powerful behind-the-scenes middle man for the Syrian government, in a move targeting the political and economic inner sanctum in Damascus.
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Hamas clinging on in West Bank
(BBC) The West Bank is considered the stronghold of the secular Fatah faction, led by the current Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The movement is engaged with Israel in a new-round of talks aimed at resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The international community has pledged billions of dollars of investment to the West Bank government.
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Shaken Hamas Still In Control of Gaza
(Washington Post) Israel's pounding of Gaza has taken a toll on the politicians as well: The once media-friendly Hamas Cabinet has been meeting in secret and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh hasn't been sighted since late January, breaking his routine of leading weekly prayers at a local mosque. Yet despite such jitters and an eight-month blockade of Gaza, there are no signs Hamas rule is about to collapse. The Islamic militants face no serious internal opposition, and despite repeated threats, Israel appears reluctant to carry out a broad military operation to topple the group.
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Christians say conditions in Gaza worsen for them, moderate Muslims
Living conditions for Christians and moderate Muslims are becoming increasingly difficult in the Gaza Strip, Christians told Catholic News Service.  "First there was the murder of (Christian bookstore owner) Rami (Ayyad), now the YMCA (bombing). We can feel it step by step," said one young Christian, who like other Christians interviewed by CNS spoke on the condition of anonymity.
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Retired Egyptian General Hussam Sweilem Slams Hamas for Destroying Egyptian Border and Warns of Extremist Religious Regimes Neighboring with Egypt
(MEMRI) Excerpts from an interview with retired Egyptian general Hussam Sweilem, which aired on Al-Al-Mihwar TV on February 6, 2008. He says, “The most important issue today is the organized crime that came from across the border. This is a violation of Egypt's sanctity, a transgression of its borders, which [Hamas] has called "the great raid." They called the transgression of our borders "a raid"...”
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IDF Chief of Staff: I can't rule out military conflict in near future
(Haaretz) Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said Wednesday that he could not rule out the possibility that Israel will face a military conflict sometime in the near future. "The achievement demanded of the IDF is swift victory in any type of conflict," said Ashkenazi during an officers' training course graduation ceremony. "I can't promise that we will not face such a test in the immediate future."
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A Death in Damascus
(Slate) We still don't know who assassinated senior Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyah in Damascus, Syria, last week. The incident was only the latest setback for the Shiite party as it faces rising anger in Lebanon for perpetuating a domestic political crisis that has lasted for months. Opponents of President Bashar Assad's regime quickly blamed Syria for the bombing that killed Mughniyah. Why would the Syrians do this? To cut a deal with the United States amid mounting international pressure against Damascus. Allegedly, Mughniyah's elimination is proof of Syria's goodwill.
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BAE: secret papers reveal threats from Saudi prince
(Guardian) Saudi Arabia's rulers threatened to make it easier for terrorists to attack London unless corruption investigations into their arms deals were halted, according to court documents revealed yesterday. Previously secret files describe how investigators were told they faced "another 7/7" and the loss of "British lives on British streets" if they pressed on with their inquiries and the Saudis carried out their threat to cut off intelligence.
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Letters: Rolling over before Saudi threats
(Guardian) A reader writes, “I would have thought the obstruction of justice is a crime in this country, but apparently not when it involves Saudi Arabia, which under this government appears to be above the law. The government has cheapened our moral values, flouted the rule of law and violated our human rights in the hope of winning favour and pleasing the corrupt princes of the house of Saud.”
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Jerusalem Diary: Monday 18 February
(BBC) The manufacturers of Monopoly (which, they claim, is the best-selling board game in the world) are holding an online poll to decide which cities should be in their forthcoming "World Edition" of the game. As of 18 February, "Jerusalem, Israel" was fifth on the leader board, sandwiched between "Riga, Latvia" and "Paris, France". This is no accident. The campaign group One Jerusalem is determinedly encouraging people to make Jerusalem number one, by the time voting closes at the end of the month.
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NORTH AMERICA
 
US could boycott South Africa racism summit
(AFP) Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Wednesday that Washington could boycott the United Nations's 2009 conference on racism in Durban, South Africa if it will likely degenerate into anti-Semitism.
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U.S. must stand strong against UN's anti-Semitic confab
(NY Daily News) Last week, Secretary of State Rice decided to sit on the fence while UN-based anti-Semites build the next forum for demonizing Israel and the United States. Her unscheduled foreign policy vacation is in response to UN planning of "Durban II" - the next installment of the UN "anti-racism" conference that took place in Durban, South Africa, and ended with an ominous demonstration of intolerance three days before 9/11. Preparations for Durban redux, to be held in the first half of 2009, start in earnest this coming April.
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Clinton backs call for OSCE funding
(Jewish Telegraph Agency) Hillary Clinton backed a call by the American Jewish Committee to fund training for foreign police to combat hate crime. In congressional testimony earlier this month, Andrew Baker, the AJC's director of international Jewish affairs, said the U.S. State Department had stopped funding for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Law Enforcement Officer's Program.
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$20 Million Saudi Gift Is Questioned
(Washington Post) A Virginia congressman has asked Georgetown University to explain how it used a $20 million donation from a Saudi prince for its academic center on Muslim and Christian relations. Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R) sent a letter yesterday to university President John J. DeGioia expressing concern about the donation and asking whether the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding has ever produced any reports critical of Saudi Arabia.
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Anti-semitic assaults at record high
(Totally Jewish) Although figures from the Community Security Trust’s annual Anti-semitic Incidents Report showed a slight drop in anti-Jewish incidents overall from 594 to 547 during 2007, it also revealed there had been a record 114 assaults, a slight increase on the previous high of last year.
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California in Brief: Molotov cocktail hits Jewish center
(LA Times) A San Fernando Valley Jewish community center was the target of a Molotov cocktail thrown early Monday, authorities said. No arrests have been made. Police are treating the incident as a hate crime, said Officer Mike Lopez, LAPD spokesman.
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Report: Racism ignored at UCI
(Daily Pilot) The UCI Muslim Student Union endorses hate speech against Jews, and UCI administrators and local Jewish groups need to do a better job condemning it, according to a report released Tuesday by an independent community task force that investigated anti-Semitism at UCI.
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EUROPE
 
A Curious Sense of Priority
The Guardian was wetting itself this morning over its ‘exclusive’ that The Foreign Office successfully fought to keep secret any mention of Israel contained on the first draft of the controversial, now discredited Iraq weapons dossier.
Click here to read
 
Islamic school 'kept copies of race-hate books'
An Islamic school that claimed to have destroyed all its copies of extremist books in which Jews were described as "monkeys" and Christians as "pigs" secretly photocopied them beforehand, a tribunal heard yesterday.
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How Hitler Won Over the German People
There were still many Germans who were skeptical of Hitler when he became chancellor in 1933. But Führer propaganda and military success soon turned him into an idol. The adulation helped make the Third Reich catastrophe possible.
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Egypt summons Danish ambassador over cartoons
(Reuters) The Egyptian government has summoned the ambassador of Denmark in Cairo to protest at the reprinting of cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammed in Danish newspapers, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
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Ukrainian Embassy to Israel charged with anti-Semitism
(Unian) The Foreign Ministry is investigating complaints of discrimination and anti-Semitism in the Ukrainian Embassy`s treatment of a Hasidic travel agency, Ma`ayanot Hahaim Tours, according to Haaretz.
Click here to read
 
By Making Holocaust Personal to Pupils, Sarkozy Stirs Anger
(NY Times) President Nicolas Sarkozy dropped an intellectual bombshell this week, surprising the nation and touching off waves of protest with his revision of the school curriculum: beginning next fall, he said, every fifth grader will have to learn the life story of one of the 11,000 French children killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust.
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London students call for divestment from Israel
(YNet) The London School of Economics Students' Union (LSESU) on Thursday passed a resolution calling for its university and the National Union of Students in the United Kingdom to divest from companies that provide commercial and military support to Israel, which they dubbed the "apartheid regime," according to reports in British media.
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Chelsea coach Avram Grant is sent ‘poison’ death threat
(Times) Anti-Semitic death threats have been sent to Avram Grant, the Israeli manager of Chelsea Football Club, in a package containing a white powder. Death threats have also been made against his wife, Tzofit.
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Chelsea boss gets death threats
(BBC) Anti-Semitic death threats have been sent to Chelsea football boss Avram Grant in a package containing a white powder, police said. A letter addressed to Grant was opened by a member of staff. It was found to contain anti-Jewish insults as well as claims that the powder was lethal.
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Shock Over Grant Death Threat
(Journal of Turkish Weekly) The news that Chelsea manager Avraham Grant received anti-Semitic death threats in the mail has been met with shock amongst his friends and the Jewish community in England. However, communal leaders are cautioning that at this point in time it should only be taken as an isolated incident and not as symptomatic of a wider rise in anti-Semitism in British soccer.
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Krakow's Basilica Should Not Host Rabid Anti-Semitic Rallies
(Cutting Edge News) A reader shares a letter written to the Archbishop of Krakow, Poland – “We were deeply disturbed by reports that an anti-Semitic meeting was held in a Krakow church. According to Polish newspapers, about 1,000 people came to the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Krakow for a meeting on February 9 convened by Radio Maryja and the Committee Against Defamation of the Church and For Polishness.  The meeting was publicized with posters that declared:  “The kikes will not continue to spit on us,” according to reports.”
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MISCELLANEOUS
 
Morocco uncovers terror ring planning attacks on local Jews
(Haaretz) Morocco says it has dismantled a terrorist network plotting to assassinate Jews, cabinet ministers, army officers in the North African kingdom. The official MAP news agency reported Wednesday night that the North African kingdom also banned an Islamist political party, Al Badil Al Hadari, because some members were linked to the network
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U.S. Monitoring Australian Anti-Semitism
(Jewish Week) State Department envoy visits community leaders, police and legislators to study response to growing problem. A total of 638 anti-Semitic incidents were reported in Australia between September of 2006 and September of last year, double the previous year’s total. By contrast, anti-Semitic incidents in the United States declined by 12 percent in 2006 from the previous year, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
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Uniting to stop Durban repeat
(Australian Jewish News) The Federal Government and the Israeli embassy will assist Jewish community groups to prevent a repeat next year of the anti-Semitic and anti-Israel sentiment which was the hallmark of the 2001 racism conference in Durban. Robert Goot, president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), led a group to Canberra that included Philip Chester, president of the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA).
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WEEKLY QUOTES (Source: Canadian Institute for Jewish Research)
 “This is a sea change. The people have rejected the much-hyped Islamic nation concept.”­Khalid Aziz, a political analyst based in North West Frontier Province's (NWFP) capital, Peshawar. The as yet unofficial Pakistan election results revealed the declining popularity of the MMA alliance of religious parties, who picked up only five of the three hundred forty-two seats elected, and nine of ninety-six in the NWFP provincial assembly, where Islamic support is strongest. “They [the MMA] were not committed to fighting the terrorists. They were the flip-side of the same coin.” (Globe and Mail, Feb. 20)

“The damage to both the structure and the electricity infrastructure is substantial. It's a disgrace we find ourselves having to…constantly suffer these attacks. If only we knew that this was taking place parallel to an extensive military operation in Gaza, this might have comforted us a little.”­Ofer Beider, owner of a destroyed chicken coop in Ashkelon, following a devastating rocket attack that was launched from Gaza. “Large parts of the structure were destroyed, at exactly the same spot where the workers were sitting only a short time earlier.” (Ynet News , February 19)

“I am convinced that with every passing day Hezbollah's might is increasing and in the near future, we will witness the disappearance of this cancerous growth Israel by means of the Hezbollah fighters' radiation [therapy].”­Muhammad Ali Jafari, commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, in a letter of condolences to Hezbollah’s leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, following the death of Mugniyeh. It has not yet been determined who choreographed his bombing. U.S. Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell said that as well as Israelis, U.S. officials were closely observing the situation, fearing a retaliation, since among the many murders in which he has been implicated, he was “responsible for more deaths of Americans and Israelis than any other terrorist, with the exception of Osama bin Laden.” (Jerusalem Post, Feb. 18)

“We will punish the United States. There are Syrians who were sacrificed during the Israeli war against Lebanon, and they will file a law suit against America, which provided Israel with the weapons.”­Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, after accusing Israel of hindering Mideast peace with terrorist activities, like the assassination of Mugniyeh. (Jerusalem Post, Feb. 14)

“Nothing is more moving, for a child, than the story of a child his own age, who has the same games, the same joys and the same hopes as he, but who, in the dawn of the 1940s, had the bad fortune to be defined as a Jew.”­French President Nicolas Sarkozy, speaking to France’s Jewish community about a new project that would see fifth-grade students “entrusted with the memory of a French child-victim of the Holocaust.” The education minister clarified that the plan may be modified to allow a class collectively to adopt one of the eleven thousand Jewish French children killed during the Holocaust. (New York Times, Feb. 16; Jerusalem Post, Feb. 18)

MOHAMMAD CARTOON REPUBLISHED­(Copenhagen) Danish newspapers reprinted a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad last week, vowing to defend freedom of expression a day after police foiled a murder plot against the cartoonist. Three of Denmark’s biggest dailies were among those that published the cartoon, depicting the Prophet’s head with a turban looking like a bomb with a lit fuse. “We are doing this to document what is at stake in this case, and to unambiguously back and support the freedom of speech that we as a newspaper will always defend,” the Copenhagen-based Berlingske Tidende said. (National Post, New York Sun, February 14)

AL-QARADHAWI BARRED FROM U.K.­(Washington) In the first week of February, the U.K. announced that Sunni cleric Sheikh Yousef al Qaradhawi has been barred from entering the country. Al Qaradhawi, who is head of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, president of the International Association of Muslim Scholars, and “spiritual guide” to many other Islamist organizations across the world, including the Muslim Brotherhood, has already been barred from entering the U.S. The U.K. government unequivocally rejected the opinion of Mockbul Ali, Islamic Affairs advisor to the British Foreign and Commonwealth office, that materials against Qaradhawi were biased. (MEMRI, Feb. 20)

AUSTRIAN DEAL WITH IRAN CRITICIZED­(Jerusalem) German chancellor Angela Merkel said that Austria set a dangerous precedent when it established a 2007 agreement between its partially state-owned oil company OMV and Iran. Members of Austria’s government have argued that human rights should be subordinated to business interests. Experts believe that Iran’s  projected revenues from this deal­22 billion euros over the next 25 years­will be used to finance the Iranian nuclear weapons program and undermine present international sanctions. The Jerusalem Post has set up an on-line petition against the OMV-Iran deal, reporting on February 3 that Albert Steinhauser was the first member of the Austrian parliament to sign the petition. (Jerusalem Post, February 17)

TALIBAN LEADER CAPTURED­(Kandahar) A major Taliban commander who reportedly organized attacks against Canadian troops and their allies was wounded and captured in Pakistan last week. It has been suggested that Mansoor Dadullah’s arrest was the result of a bloody internal Taliban feud that divided Dadullah’s network from the Taliban’s main decision-making body, which ejected him from the movement in late December. Taliban commander Mullah Mohammed Omar issued a written statement yesterday in which he appeared to distance himself from the Dadullahs’ vision of endless war. (Globe and Mail, February 12)

 ARAB OFFICIALS SLAP RESTRICTIONS ON SATELLITE TV­(Cairo) Arab information ministers, as part of a recent meeting of the Arab League, voted to endorse restrictions on satellite television broadcasts that until now have generally skirted local censorship efforts. The information ministers endorsed a plan that included the following guidelines: Making no mention of heads of states, religious or national figures in a harmful manner; not airing material that incites hatred, violence or terrorism; not airing clips that include sexual dialogues or connotations. Cairo-based analyst Issandr el-Amrani said the charter idea came after the proliferation of talk shows giving strong voice to opposition politicians.(National Post, February 13)

MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD MEMBERS ARRESTED­(Jerusalem) Egyptian police on Sunday arrested 51 members of the country’s largest opposition movement, the banned Muslim Brotherhood. The dawn arrests were the latest in an ongoing crackdown on the Islamist group and came three days after 50 other members were arrested. The detainees are believed to be potential candidates in the upcoming provincial council elections. (Jerusalem Post, Feb.17)

YMCA IN GAZA VANDALIZED­(Jerusalem) A band of 14 masked gunmen forced its way into YMCA offices in the Gaza Strip, damaging the library and reportedly burning thousands of books in the ensuing fire. The YMCA in Gaza also operates a gym and a wedding hall. The incident is another link in ongoing attacks against Palestinian Christians. The Palestinian Christian population is 1.5 percent of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, down from about 15 percent fifty years ago. (Jerusalem Post, February 15)

CANADA EXTRADITES FORMER SS GUARD­(Vancouver) Michael Seifert, 83, convicted of committing brutal crimes at an Italian prison camp during the Second World War, lost a long fight to stay in Canada last week when he was finally extradited. An Italian official in Rome said Seifert was to arrive in Italy and be taken to a military prison to begin serving his sentence. Seifert­dubbed by some as the Beast of Bolzano­was convicted in absentia in 2000 by an Italian military tribunal on nine counts of murder committed while he was an SS guard at a prison camp in Bolzano, northern Italy. (Globe and Mail, Feb. 16)

PROTEST ON TORONTO CAMPUS­(Toronto) The case of a University of Toronto student who posted Internet messages supporting attacks against Canadian soldiers has fuelled growing unease between Muslim and non-Muslim students. Student leaders have been quick to condemn Salman Hossain for his online comments, which include calling Canadian soldiers “legitimate targets to be killed”, and have asked university officials to look into disciplinary action against him. More than 600 people have joined a Facebook group entitled “Expel or Suspend Salman Hossain”. The university’s Muslim Students Association has dissociated itself from Hossain, but its statement stopped short of condemning his comments. (National Post, Feb. 12)